‘FIFA Owed Me His Money’ Says Platini In Appeals Court

Former UEFA head Michel Platini claimed that FIFA “owed” him the two million Swiss francs ($2.2 million) at the center of the case on Monday in a Swiss appeals court, where his conviction on fraud charges is being looked into.

At the start of his hearing, the French three-time Ballon d’Or winner said, “I still don’t understand why the public prosecutor’s office is picking on me.”

The attorney general’s office (OAG) is hearing a request from the special appeals court in Muttenz, near Basel, to reopen proceedings against the 69-year-old Platini and former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who turns 89 on March 10.

Blatter resigned as FIFA’s head in 2015 amid a corruption crisis, sparking a legal saga that has persisted for a while. Due to the delayed payment of two million Swiss francs, Platini, who served as UEFA’s president from 2007 to 2015, received in 2011 for consulting services.

In June 2022, the Swiss Federal Court found the pair innocent on charges including “forgery of securities,” “breach of trust,” and “disloyal management.”

The Federal Court gave them the benefit of the doubt because it found that fraud had been “not established with a likelihood that bordered on certainty.”

Platini, who was questioned in court on Monday, claimed he was surprised when Blatter first asked him what his expectations were for a salary after assisting him in winning the 1998 presidential election.

Platini said, “As I didn’t know this world, the world of FIFA,” “I randomly said “one million.”

“He asked me to spend “one million dollars”,” he said. ‘. One million of whatever you want: lires, pesetas, and roubles, I joked a little. And Mr. Blatter uttered the phrase “one million Swiss francs.”

Blatter allegedly told Platini in 1999 that he could not afford to pay him the million because they had already reached a written agreement for 300,000 Swiss francs.

Platini said, “I’ll give you the balance when we have money at FIFA,” “,”

The public prosecutor correctly identified his 2011 invoice as a “false invoice” meant to defraud the organization.

Platini resisted FIFA’s failure to pay the invoice and to file a lawsuit.

He said, “A word is a word, and a contract is a word.” “I owe FIFA money to me, and I would have done anything to get it back.”

Source: Channels TV